Chargers linebacker Manti Te'o had his moments as a rookie, but an untimely injury slowed his progress. LENNY IGNELZI, AP

SAN DIEGO – The beginning of recent practices offered little if any tangible proof that San Diego Chargers linebacker Manti Te’o will be a better player in his second season as a pro.

But you can pencil it in right now: He will be.

Te’o was a limited participant at the start of spring organized team activities to give his right foot more time to heal from January surgery. It was a minor setback – insignificant compared to the original injury that undermined his rookie season.

Te’o is in better physical condition than at this time last year. He’s also in a much better place mentally.

As with all rookies, Te’o was learning as he went. Everything was new to him. Additionally, he still was enduring the fallout from the fake-girlfriend fiasco that ended his otherwise-decorated Notre Dame career so strangely.

Now, no one so much as mentions it. Te’o no longer is on a media-interview pitch count. His sole focus is improving in every conceivable way.

“I feel like a veteran in the sense that yeah, I’ve been here a year now. There’s a level of familiarity here,” said Te’o, who returned to full duty for the third and final week of OTAs in early June and is participating in this week’s minicamp. “Yet I still have that mentality of a rookie where I’m always trying to get better. I’m always hungry and trying to improve.”

By his own admission, Te’o has plenty of room for improvement. He described his rookie performance as “average.” According to Pro Football Focus, Te’o ranked 30th among 55 qualifying inside linebackers last season. He was especially ineffective against the run, ranking 47th.

Te’o was nowhere near as productive as Buffalo Bills linebacker Kiko Alonso, taken eight picks later in the second round of the 2013 draft. Alonso was PFF’s 10th-ranked inside linebacker and a first-team all-rookie selection.

Of course, Alonso didn’t hurt his foot at the absolute worst time.

Te’o suffered what was described as a “foot sprain” during the Chargers’ Aug. 8 exhibition opener. He didn’t appear in a game again until Week 4 of the regular season Sept. 29.

Downplay the importance of the exhibition season all you want, but that time is invaluable for rookies in need of live repetitions. It’s also reasonable to assume Te’o’s foot was never quite right, given that it required postseason surgery.

“There’s nothing like game reps,” said veteran quarterback Philip Rivers, who barely played his first two seasons before becoming San Diego’s starter in 2006. “There’s just nothing that can be substituted for them. Having a year under your belt of playing, your confidence, your understanding of what’s expected and what may happen and not happen is at a whole new level.”

Rivers said he already could see that in second-year players D.J. Fluker and Keenan Allen, two indispensable cogs as rookies in the Chargers’ surprising playoff run.

“(With) a year under their belt,” Rivers said, “they’re out there like veterans.”

Te’o never ascended to the level of Allen, the runner-up for Offensive Rookie of the Year, or Fluker, a consensus first-team all-rookie performer. But Te’o did show signs of progress as he got more reps and put his challenging offseason in the rearview mirror.

“His training camp was kind of Weeks 4-8 of the regular season,” linebackers coach Joe Barry said. “He finally got going, and it showed in the way he played. On top of that, he was playing with a foot that was probably a lot worse than he was letting anybody know.”

Te’o had nine missed tackles in his first nine games, according to PFF’s accounting. He had only two in his final six games.

Te’o allowed nine completions in 13 passes into his coverage area (69.2 percent) in his first seven games, per PFF. He also surrendered two touchdowns. In his final eight games, he allowed 11 completions in 19 attempts (57.9) without yielding a score.

“Any player that plays their rookie year, there’s so much volume,” Chargers coach Mike McCoy said. “With his situation, where he missed some time … it wasn’t until halfway through the season where he was really feeling comfortable with things.”

Te’o’s comfort level should rise even further this year. He has 601 defensive snaps as a pro from which to learn. He also recently said he is in the best shape of his life after training for 3-4 hours a day in his hometown of Kaneohe, Hawaii.

“The knowledge you gain as a rookie, all the things you go through firsthand, it helps you so much going into your second year,” Barry said. “Then add in all the things he was dealing with last year at this time.

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